


Can I Have This Dance?

by alanna_the_lionheart



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, Comfort/Angst, Dancing, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Hope, Hopeful Ending, One Shot, Short & Sweet, Short One Shot, Tooth-Rotting Fluff, Wedding, olicity - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-26
Updated: 2016-01-26
Packaged: 2018-05-16 08:09:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5820826
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/alanna_the_lionheart/pseuds/alanna_the_lionheart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver shows Felicity that even though she may never walk again, they can still have their first dance. Takes place somewhere after 4x11.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Can I Have This Dance?

**Author's Note:**

> This is about 5% angst and 95% teeth rotting fluff. You might cry (I did). Consider yourselves warned. See endnotes for the song that partially inspired me to write this little fluff fest at 3 in the morning when I should’ve been sleeping.

**Can I Have This Dance?**

Two weeks after Felicity finally comes home from the hospital, she and Oliver find themselves spending a rare, quiet night alone together in the loft. Oliver’s tired from a long day at the campaign office, and so he's perfectly happy to just collapse on the couch and let Felicity pick a movie to watch. She chooses a Lifetime movie she’s had on the DVR for a few days. It’s your typical Lifetime Original movie (they all look the same to Oliver, no matter how much Felicity swears that they’re not) and he honestly couldn’t tell you what it's called. But tonight’s not really about the movie; it's about _them_ : enjoying an evening of peace in each other's arms.

Oliver falls asleep about half an hour into the movie (as expected) but he wakes just in time for the closing scene. The main couple have just gotten married, it seems, and they’re sharing their first dance after their wedding. Oliver sits up slowly on the couch, stretching out the arm he fell asleep on and wondering why Felicity’s not curled up next to him anymore (he distinctly remembers falling asleep to the sound of her breathing steadily against his chest).

When he looks over, he finds her sitting straight up on the couch...and his heart skips a beat when he realizes that she’s crying.

Normally, he would think nothing of it. He’s seen Felicity watch enough Lifetime movies over their summer away to know that the vast majority of them will bring her to tears. But her tears seem _different_ somehow. Instinct tells him that there’s something _more_ to her crying this time...and his instinct is hardly ever wrong.

“Hey,” he says soothingly, and he reaches out and gently grips her hand.

She startles slightly, her breath catching in her throat. She pulls her hand from his and uses it to wipe at her tear streaked cheeks.

“I’m sorry,” she replies, sniffling slightly as she rubs at her eyes. “You know what these movies do to me,” she says offhandedly, and Oliver turns his gaze back to the TV. The couple is slow dancing now as the credits roll across the screen.

“Yeah,” he responds, because he _does_ know what these movies do to her. And yet….

“I was just thinking….” Felicity trails off, turning her gaze away from the TV; away from _him_.

“Yeah?” he prompts gently, and he turns his body to the side on the couch so he’s facing her.

She still won’t look at him.

“It’s stupid, really,” she continues, scrubbing hard at her face, clearly frustrated by the return of her tears.

 

“Felicity.”

Oliver carefully grips her hand, stopping its movement. Then he pulls it away from her cheek and puts a hand under her chin, gently turning her face toward his. He reaches up and grabs her face between his hands, cradling it gently as he brushes her tears away with his fingertips. She gasps slightly, but she doesn’t stop him. Instead she closes her eyes and takes a deep breath. When she opens them again, she meets his gaze and holds it.

“What’s wrong?” Oliver implores tenderly, reaching down and grabbing her left hand with his right. He rubs his fingers unconsciously against the ring on her finger.

She shakes her head. “Oliver….”

“You can tell me,” he assures her, squeezing her hand tightly, and his heart lifts when she squeezes back.

“It’s just….” She turns back toward the screen, and she watches the couple continue to dance. As she turns back to him, Oliver begins to put the pieces together.

“It’s just...I can’t help thinking that I’ll never...that we’ll never have _that_ ,” she says, nodding her head toward the TV. “Oliver...I’m not going to be able to dance on our wedding day.”

Oliver stares at her quietly, unsure of what to say. He looks back to the TV, watching as the image of the dancing couple slowly fades to black.

And then an idea comes to him.

Oliver turns back to her and smiles hopefully. He lets go of her hand and stands without a word. She frowns as he moves to stand in front of her.

Then he holds a hand out to her and says, “Can I have this dance?”

Felicity stares at him silently, and Oliver holds out his other hand.

“Take my hands, Felicity,” he urges gently. “Please.”

And just when he starts to fear that she’ll deny him, she places her hands in his, grips them tight, and nods.

Oliver smiles softly at her, and in one quick, strong movement he lifts her body away from the couch, wraps his arms around her lower back, and pulls her body close to his. Her legs dangle underneath her as he uses his impressive upper body strength to shift her position in his arms. He maneuvers her carefully until her feet rest on his; one of her bare feet on top of each of his own.

His hold is tight and strong and reassuring, and she feels safe in his grasp as he wraps his right arm firmly around her back, grips her hip, and uses his left hand to grab her right, holding their arms out and away from their bodies.

Felicity lets out a gasp of surprise as it begins to dawn on her what he’s about to do.

“Hold onto me tight,” he tells her, and she wraps her left arm tightly around his back, gripping his side.

"I imagined you saying that under different circumstances," she teases, and Oliver laughs. He can't help it. The fact that she still remembers that conversation they had in an elevator shaft nearly three years ago doesn’t surprise him, but it does fill him with warmth...and an overwhelming sense of love for the woman he holds close, both in his arms and in his heart.

"Ready?" he checks. Felicity responds with a nod and a bite of her lip.

And so they start to dance.

Oliver stumbles a bit at first, because their position is slightly awkward and he can’t quite get her feet to stay on top of his when he moves them. He holds her tighter in response, pressing her chest so close to his that he can feel her heart hammering against his own. But eventually, he gets the rhythm down, and it’s not long before he’s twirling her around the room.

He watches her closely, noting how her breath catches as she looks down at her feet resting on his; noting the way she gazes around the room in wonder as he spins them in a slow circle.

Without warning, he leans over her and bends her backward, and they hold each other tight as he carefully dips her .

“Oliver!” she laughs breathlessly. The sound of her laughter is like music to his ears, and Oliver dances to it.

He dances until his arms start to get tired, and then he keeps dancing.

“Hang on,” he warns her, and he puts both of his hands under her butt, lifts her high up in his arms, and spins them around quickly. She giggles in response, and Oliver finds that he’s laughing now, too.

Eventually, his arms start to ache, but he still doesn’t stop. Instead he wraps both arms around her back and lowers her down slightly, resting her feet firmly on top of his. She wraps both of her arms tighter around him in return, and he starts a slow dance.

Felicity sighs as she rests her head under his chin, right against his shoulder.

Oliver rests his cheek on top of her head as he continues to move them slowly back and forth.

“Oliver?” Felicity breathes against him.

“Honey?” he whispers back.

“I thought you hated dancing.”

Oliver smiles against her hair, then places a gentle kiss on top of her head.

"I'd do anything with you, Felicity,” he promises her.

Felicity hugs him tightly, and Oliver feels her tears soak into his shirt as she whispers, “I love you.”

* * *

 

They get married in the winter. Oliver stands proudly at the altar as Felicity walks down the aisle toward him, linked arm in arm with Donna Smoak, who beams with pride.

Felicity’s walk down the aisle is a surprise to many, but not to those few who know Curtis Holt. A scientific breakthrough, with the help of Ray Palmer’s nanotech, saves not just Felicity’s company, but also her legs.

Two hours later, when it’s time for their first dance, Felicity surprises everyone again. Everyone except Oliver, that is, because Oliver will swear until the day he dies that he always knew how she’d want to have their first dance.

As their song begins to play, Felicity wraps her arms around Oliver’s back with a smile. Then she carefully steps out of her heels, stands on top of his feet, and lets him take the lead.

**  
_....the end…_ **

 

* * *

 

 

**Song Inspiration: _“Can I Have this Dance?” (High School Musical 3 Soundtrack)_**

_Take my hand, I'll take the lead_  
_And every turn will be safe with me_  
_Don't be afraid, afraid to fall_  
_You know I'll catch you through it all_

_It's like catching lightning, the chances of finding_  
_Someone like you_  
_It's one in a million, the chances of feeling_  
_The way we do_

_And with every step together_  
_We just keep on getting better_  
_So can I have this dance?_  
_(Can I have this dance?)_  
_Can I have this dance?_

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Whatever you do, don't listen to that song and picture Oliver holding Felicity close and twirling her around the loft while she laughs in delight, because it will only lead to violent sobbing at three in the morning and I already did that (I wouldn't recommend it).
> 
> And yes, I know this song is from a High School Musical movie, but whether I like it or not I spent a summer working at The Disney Store in Manhattan, where I heard all the HSM3 songs on repeat so often that I still have most of them memorized.
> 
> I really liked the idea of Oliver and Felicity finding another way to dance,and I wanted to incorporate that into their wedding dance, too, and so this story was born. Popular theory is that Curtis will find a way to use Ray’s nanotechnology to help Felicity and impress the Palmer Tech board at the same time, and so that's what I went with.
> 
> Also, my headcanon for their song has been “My Girl” since the great MTV reblog of last summer. “I guess you’d say, what can make me feel this way? My girl, my girl (my girl). Talkin’ bout my girl (my girl).” “You will always be my girl, Felicity.” Headcanon forever, baby.


End file.
